Friday night lights: Fairfield to keep varsity football program in 2018

Watch the best high school football plays from around the YAIAA in Week 9 of the regular season.
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Fairfield wide receiver Garrett Stadler will be one of the program's leaders this season. Here, he is tackled by Biglerville's Christopher Weaver during a game last season.(Photo: Ty Lohr, The Evening Sun)Buy Photo

First-year Knights coach Jason Thurston confirmed on Monday that the school will field a varsity football team in 2018. As of last week, the school had been seriously concerned that it would only have a JV squad due to low turnout and a lack of upperclassmen.

Thurston added that Fairfield likely won't field a JV team now. He couldn't give an exact head count on how many players are expected to come out, but said he thinks the team will add a few new players and lose a couple of young ones from the group of 25 players that school expected to have a week ago.

"Our numbers are going to be low. And this was a tough decision, but it was the right thing to do," Thurston said. "There's a lot that needs to be done but I'm excited."

With just about 350 students enrolled at the high school, Fairfield has always struggled with low numbers since launching its football program in 2003. But after having about 32 players in the program last season, the Knights graduated a large senior class and had a handful of other players leave the program for various reasons.

By that point, Fairfield was looking at the possibility that more than half its varsity roster would be comprised of freshmen. Since putting that many 14-year-olds on the same field as juniors and seniors could lead to serious injury risks, the school district brought up the possibility of only playing a JV schedule this fall at last Monday's board meeting.

After more discussions and a recruitment meeting last Thursday, the school decided it would be in the best interest of the players to keep a varsity team, according to Thurston.

"The big thing was, if we go to a JV schedule then we'd have a hard time getting the seniors who've put in years of hard work to come out," Thurston said. "They have a lot at stake. And when you look at what they've been doing to salvage the varsity team, (the decision) was a no-brainer. I've been sensing some great leadership here."

Thurston said the Knights will have at least eight and hopefully 10 seniors on the roster this season. He credited senior quarterback Zach Koons and junior wide receiver Garrett Stadler with trying to recruit new players to come out this fall. Additionally, Thurston said he's happy that seniors who want to play football in college will be able to showcase themselves on Friday nights.

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Fairfield's Zach Koons got time at quarterback last season when three-year starter Darian Mort missed a few games due to injury. Koons will be relied on much more this season. Here, he throws a pass against Hanover last fall.(Photo: Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun)

As for the possibility that the school could cancel the remainder of the season if the team gets off to a rough start or turnout is even lower than expected, Thurston said the team will "hit that bridge when we get there."

"Our goal is to give the players a positive experience and find a role for all of them," he said. "That way they'll all be engaged and find ownership."

While it's easy to expect Fairfield to struggle this season, the Knights could conceivably make the District 3 Class 1A title game for the second year in a row. Only three teams in District 3 have been placed in the PIAA's smallest classification this season, and the other two — Halifax (3-7) and Millersburg (0-10) — both struggled last season. Fairfield went 4-6 and lost to powerhouse Steelton-Highspire (now in 2A) in last year's title game.

The Knights have historically struggled against their YAIAA Division III rivals, but usually find wins against nonconference teams like St. Joseph's Catholic Academy and James Buchanan.

"I'm a firm believer in taking things one week at a time, but we are aware of and excited about that opportunity," Thurston said. "I think some of our returning players are using that as a sales pitch. We will have to get some balls bouncing our way, but the opportunity is there and it could be awesome for our program."

According to Thurston, Fairfield has retained two previous assistant coaches and added four more. The team will kick off its season at home against Penns Valley on Aug. 24.

A call to Fairfield athletic director Crystal Heller was not immediately returned Monday.